Assange 'free' after reaching US plea deal

Julian Assange"is free" and has been released from a high-security London prison where he was held for five years, Wikileaks said, after reaching a US plea deal.

Assange, who had been in custody in Britain, will plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence information, according to the document filed in court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific.He is scheduled to appear at a hearing on the island of Saipan at 9am local time tomorrow .

A video posted on X by Wikileaks showed Assange dressed in a blue shirt and jeans signing a document before boarding a private jet. Assange was indicted during former President Donald Trump's administration over WikiLeaks' mass release of secret US documents, which were leaked by Chelsea Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst who was also prosecuted under the Espionage Act.

An Australian government spokesperson said:"Prime Minister Albanese has been clear - Mr Assange's case has dragged on for too long and there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration." He has been in London's Belmarsh top security prison ever since, from where he has for almost five years been fighting extradition to the United States.

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